From 2016 - 2020, while serving in the Mississippi House of Representatives, Jarvis Dortch pursued MDHS & TANF oversight on behalf of concerned nonprofit advocates and everyday Mississippians. Now, while serving as the Executive Director of the ACLU of Mississippi, Dortch is traveling to Washington, D.C. to testify in a US House of Representatives hearing about TANF reforms. The hearing, “Reforming Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): Misuse of Welfare Funds Leaves Poor Families Behind,” is a critical step to putting TANF on a better track to help Mississippians with low incomes.
Read Dortch’s prepared testimony remarks below:
Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Neal, members of the committee.
Thank you for this opportunity.
Through my statement, I hope to relay three points to the committee.
First: The State of Mississippi took advantage of the lax federal guidelines to make it nearly impossible for poor families to receive help, leaving millions in welfare funds to be wasted or stolen.
Second: After the largest embezzlement scandal in state history, little in Mississippi has changed.
Third: Mississippi families can only look to Congress to reform the system. Whatever those reforms may be, know Mississippi is not an example of what works.
Beginning in 2016, while a member of the Mississippi legislature, I talked with advocates and constituents concerned with the lack of transparency within the agency that administers TANF, the Miss. Department of Human Services (M D H S).
I also quickly learned that being a legislator, did not entitle me to useful information from MDHS.
However, there were a few things that we did know.
We knew MDHS rejected nearly every application for cash assistance. In 2012, the state’s TANF approval rate dropped from 35% to 2.8%.
In April 2021, In the middle of COVID, the entire adult caseload reached its lowest mark, just 140 individuals.
We knew MDHS refused to spend welfare funds. Yearly, foregoing between 30 and 40 percent of its TANF grant.
We also knew that MDHS outsourced its TANF program to a nonprofit director named Nancy New. New received over $50 million dollars to operate her Families first for Mississippi initiative.
In May 2019, I wrote a letter received by Federal Dept. of Health and Human Services stating - Quote “Neither MDHS or Families First has provided the public with the program’s budget priorities or deliverables and outcomes.” – End quote
HHS responded that Mississippi’s TANF expenditures were allowed, and further scrutiny was unnecessary.
However, A few months later… New and the former MDHS Director were arrested and have since pleaded guilty to misspending welfare funds.
Following the arrests, we finally learned, in detail, how Mississippi spent its welfare dollars.
Millions paid for cars, vacations and real estate.
Over $2 million went to a professional wrestler, aptly nicknamed “the Million Dollar Man.”
$9,500 a month paid the mortgage on a horse ranch owned by a former professional football player.
And we really love our football in Mississippi, so the state paid over $1 million to another retired professional football player to compensate him for appearance fees, promotions, and autographs.
Nearly 5 years later, little has changed.
Lawmakers have passed zero bills addressing the scandal, in fact, there have been zero legislative hearings on TANF.
Ignoring the embezzlement of millions of dollars, lawmakers went after TANF recipients receiving, at most, $170 a month.
Just weeks after the arrests, the Legislature passed a bill allowing the state to audit the tax returns of the families that receive TANF and other public benefits.
So, of course, the cash assistance denial rate remains above 90%, reaching just 0.06% of impoverished Mississippi adults.
Mississippi continues hoarding TANF, with $145 million in unallocated funds.
Subgrantees still receive upwards of $35 million a year.
Despite MDHS tasking these grantees with providing workforce training, after school programs and mentorship, the current MDHS Director has stated that his agency does not track the outcomes of these funded programs.
When a legislator asked for subgrantee performance data, the director stated “You’re asking me for information that doesn’t exist.”
Mr. Chairman, I applaud you and your committee’s commitment to ensuring TANF helps the people that need it.
But please remember that many of Mississippi’s former and current spending decisions are allowed because of TANF’s weak federal guidelines. That must change.
Congressman Danny Davis, Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson, and others on this committee have proposed legislation to penalize states that misspend TANF funds and require those states to allocate more funding towards cash assistance. That legislation would have forced Mississippi to make real changes to its TANF program.
Most importantly, Congress must assure that individuals and families in need, have the cash resources to survive. The expanded Child Tax Credit cut, in half, the number of Mississippi’s Black children living in poverty.
Last summer, members of the Work and Welfare subcommittee, learned of the success of the Magnolia Mother’s Trust. A program that provides $1,000 dollars a month to moms in poverty, without restrictions.
These programs are clear evidence that direct cash assistance, absent Mississippi’s paternalistic red tape, can effectively lift families out of poverty.
Mr. Chairman, when the committee considers reforms to TANF, please ask: Would this policy, change or prevent what has and what continues to happen in Mississippi?
Again, thank you for this opportunity, and I look forward to answering any questions you may have.
